Madison Russo pleaded guilty to cheating well wishers and charities out of thousands of dollars from her fake cancer diagnosis. (Screenshot of a TikTok reuploading one of her videos: @drugstore_cowgirl; screenshot of Russo in court on Oct. 20, 2023: KLJB)
When Madison Russo, 20, spoke in court Friday, she said that she fabricated a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in hopes of having her fractured family focus on her, according to KWQC. And yet as the judge in Scott County, Iowa, pointed out, she did not just deceive her relatives, but also donors and charities who gave her a total of more than $39,000 after she documented her fake story on TikTok.
“Through this scheme, you deceived your friends, your family, your community, other cancer victims, charities and strangers who were motivated by your supposedly tragic story to donate to help support you,” Judge John Telleen reportedly said.
@drugstore_cowgirl why would someone do this? living a lie this big must be awful. #maddierusso #fake #fyp #fakecancer ♬ original sound – Beautiful Disaster
The scam reportedly surfaced after doctors saw Russo incorrectly use medical equipment.
Russo pleaded guilty in June to a count of first-degree theft. She faced up to 10 years in prison, but as part of the deal, the prosecutor, Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham, asked for no time behind bars. She cited details including Russo’s lack of criminal history. The prosecutor also noted the defendant was employed and had earned good grades as a college student. Cunningham maintained Russo was unlikely to break the law again.
The defendant will dodge time behind bars, but the specter of the maximum punishment hangs over her: Telleen suspended a 10-year prison sentence, but the condition is that Russo must finish three years of probation. Ordered to pay full restitution, she reportedly gave the stolen money to a bank that will return the ill-gotten gains to the victims. She must also pay a $1,370 fine.
Rhonda Miles, who operates a cancer foundation that donated to the defendant, voiced frustration with the plea deal.
“It was devastating to sit there and watch the Scott County prosecuting attorney act like a defending attorney, so that was tough,” she said, according to KWQC. “And I think she’ll have a lot of questions to answer from the locals on that at some point. Why were you defending this girl when you were supposed to be prosecuting?”
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Russo on Friday voiced an apology to the victims and asserted she did not fake cancer for “money or greed.”
“I didn’t do this for attention,” she said. “I did this in an attempt to try to get my family back together.”
As she described it, her scheme “snowballed quickly and hard,” and called it all an “immature decision.”
“I was 18 years old and I was a freshman in college when it took place,” she “I’m young and I don’t know it all, and I wasn’t being rational.”
The defense wanted deferred judgment, which would have kept her record clean after probation, but Telleen declined, saying, “serious crimes must have serious consequences,” according to The Associated Press.
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